Road Rage and the Crazy Camp Commute

How are you managing this summer, fellow parents?  How do those of you who are home with your kids find activities to fill the days?  

For those of you with kids at various camps around town: you have my deep empathy.  I remember my excitement when I got five weeks of Parks and Rec programs for my boys: one week each of Skyhawks basketball and Thundercat baseball and Kaleidoscope and two weeks at Prospect Hill.  I felt like I won the lottery.  They would round out the summer with two weeks at the YMCA.  Done.

Then, my older son was accepted into a great program run at Emerson College.  For three weeks.  While the younger one would be in Waltham.  And then the fun began.

Kim Scott at Parks and Rec was so helpful and accommodating in helping me to change my older son's entire summer schedule that I completely overlooked the fact that my husband and I would need to figure out how to be at the corner of Tremont and Stuart at 8:30 and at Veterans' Field at 9 and then back in Waltham at 3 and back to the theatre district by 3:30.  Big oversight.

So this week, since I have the job with the more flexible schedule, I found myself fighting the Boston traffic (it's road construction season, in case you hadn't noticed) and the gridlock that occurs on Beaver and Lexington Streets during Camp Season (Girl Scout Camp, camps at Bentley and CHCH, Prospect Hill, Kennedy Middle School, Waltham High, YMCA....)  Add to the gridlock and construction delays the fact that it was 100*F all week and, well, you have a perfect recipe for short tempers and long commutes.  I spent the entire week in a complete panic that I was already late, would be late, had forgotten to arrange pick up for one of the kids, had missed an appointment with a client, or had otherwise neglected something.  Something. Very. Important.  Like the weekly conference call with my boss.  Ahem.

Am I the only one longing for September and the return of dropping my boys at the Fitz at 8:25 and picking them up at the Y after-school program at 6PM and knowing that they are completely safe and occupied the entire time?